Creative: China’s Dilemma, Luca Ferrara

I’m having a serious case of withdrawal. This past year was not a good bookmaking year for me. My grand total for the year was one portfolio, two journals and one eight-page MagCloud Digest. Simply put, that is not good enough. Thankfully, some of you are making books and then sending those books my way. Luca Ferrara did just that, and I’m glad he did because his book on China is a lesson for us all.

Luca spent eighteen years in China, visited all twenty-three provinces, and taught himself the language.

That’s called putting the time in. Compare this to the “three-day films” of the modern photography world, and you begin to understand the varying levels of time and commitment in documentary photography. But this story is more than the time in the field. This story is about what Luca did with the work. This may or may not have had something to do with my YouTube channel, or my prodding people to do more than post, but either way, Luca took action and the book you see here is a result of that action. But it’s not the only result. This is where things get interesting.

His first thought was to write a single paragraph of text and then create a picture book, or photobook. Picture, picture, picture, on the highest quality paper at the largest size offered. So, he did. A 224-page, hardcover, 11×13 photobook. Boom. I would call this the “learned behavior” portion of our evening. This is what many of us were trained to do, trained to think. Big = better. Not so fast. After looking at the CPU, and taking a minute to regain his composure, he realized that the enormous photobook didn’t fit his true needs. So, he took evasive action and went to Plan B.

In stepped the 8×10, softcover, Trade Book you see here. This is a smart publication. Looks great, is less formal, doesn’t break the bank, and whether or not he knows it, entirely sellable. (Luca, you are way better at photography than you give yourself credit for.) He also made a critical decision that many of you obsessed with making the same old picture books need to hear. Luca realized the story was more important than the materials in the book. Praise be. THIS is what I’ve been trying to get across since I started at Blurb in 2007. STORY IS KING. The only people who care about your materials or DPI are other photographers.

He also wrote a 12,000-word essay. I’m over the traditional photobook and the hipster-style, urban, abstract landscape books that are popular online. Just not enough there for me. I want to be educated and entertained by the photographer’s point of view. Books without text aren’t enough for me anymore. And if I see another random deck chair, hotel room table, or perfectly purple Instagram-ready mountain range I’m going to projectile puke. (Someone sent me an IG feed earlier from a group of photographers and it was the most soulless thing I’ve seen in a while. Everything was so perfect it had no impact whatsoever.) Luca wanted to deliver the photography as part of the narrative and not the main course. He succeeded. It’s a far more compelling book this way.

My one suggestion, there might be a stronger cover. I have visions of how I would design the cover, and based on the photography I’ve seen, there are strong images that might work better. Overall, this is a publication I would be proud to call my own. And the work involved is commendable. Just so you know, when I feature books like this, I don’t show much of the interior because it’s not my book. Just as I don’t use photographs from legendary photographers to sell my YouTube channel, a shameless practice that happens a lot these days. (Anything for subs, right YT photogs?)

If you like what you see, reach out to Luca and let him know.